The Project Gutenberg EBook of Books and Habits from the Lectures of
Lafcadio Hearn, by Lafcadio Hearn

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Title: Books and Habits from the Lectures of Lafcadio Hearn

Author: Lafcadio Hearn

Release Date: December 13, 2004 [EBook #14338]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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BOOKS AND HABITS

_from the lectures of_

LAFCADIO HEARN

_Selected and Edited with an Introduction by_

JOHN ERSKINE

_Professor of English Columbia University_

1922

London: William Heinemann

[Transcriber's note: Contents moved to precede the Introduction.]

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
I THE INSUPERABLE DIFFICULTY
II ON LOVE IN ENGLISH POETRY
III THE IDEAL WOMAN IN ENGLISH POETRY
IV NOTE UPON THE SHORTEST FORMS OF ENGLISH POETRY
V SOME FOREIGN POEMS ON JAPANESE SUBJECTS
VI THE BIBLE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE
VII THE "HAVAMAL"
VIII BEYOND MAN
IX THE NEW ETHICS
X SOME POEMS ABOUT INSECTS
XI SOME FRENCH POEMS ABOUT INSECTS
XII NOTE ON THE INFLUENCE OF FINNISH POETRY IN ENGLISH LITERATURE
XIII THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ROMANCE OF THE MIDDLE AGES
XIV "IONICA"
XV OLD GREEK FRAGMENTS
INDEX

INTRODUCTION

These chapters, for the most part, are reprinted from Lafcadio Hearn's
"Interpretations of Literature," 1915, from his "Life and Literature,"
1916, and from his "Appreciations of Poetry," 1917. Three chapters appear
here for the first time. They are all taken from the student notes of
Hearn's lectures at the University of Tokyo, 1896-1902, sufficiently
described in the earlier volumes just mentioned. They are now published in
this regrouping in response to a demand for a further selection of the
lectures, in a less expensive volume and with emphasis upon those papers
which illustrate Hearn's extraordinary ability to interpret the exotic in
life and in books.

It should be remembered that these lectures were delivered to Japanese
students, and that Hearn's purpose was not only to impart the information
about Weste